Q&A: Local DJ An-Ten-Nae Preps for Mad Hatters Ball
Bay Area based acid crunk artist An-Ten-Nae joins a cavalcade of electronic music stars set to shake 1015 Folsom for the Mad Hatters Ball on October 30.
Oakland’s Adam Ohana has produced electronic music for more than 10 years as An-Ten-Nae, releasing a variety of glitch, dubstep, and ambient chill-out tracks plus the garden variety of mixtapes. He uses a custom DJ hardware setup to blend genres and drop oversize beats armed with mammoth bass. But his heavy, genre-bending content creation doesn’t stop there thanks to his alternate music projects like LowRIDERz with DJ Laura, and in recent years Dimond Saints with fellow artist ReLeece.
Beyond his own material, he used to be a music director at 1015 Folsom and owns his own production company An*Ten*Nae Presents. His events have helped break in many other bass-oriented acts on the West coast like Bassnectar, The Glitch Mob and Rusko.
In anticipation of the Mad Hatters Ball, we chatted with An-Ten-Nae to learn more about his sonic inspirations, the local music scene, and what makes him most proud to be a San Francisco resident.
Mad Hatters Ball Lineup
Mr. Carmack
Hayden James
Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals
Nina Las Vegas
Joe Kay (Soulection)
Buku
An-Ten-Nae
Masego (live)
Light down Low: rchie Panic + Corey Sizemore
Bogl
DJ Dials
Mihkal
Minigotchi
Alexander Lewis
HGMNY Crew
Subculture Crew
Who were biggest musical influences growing up?
Really all over the map. From hip-hop to the Beatles.
What was the quintessential moment for you to decide pursuing music production professionally?
That feeling you get when you see people dancing to your music. It just makes you want to keep doing it.
Which genres are you most interested in these days to incorporate as part of your acid crunk genre?
Bass, house techno, indie, and hip-hop.
https://soundcloud.com/an-ten-nae/an-ten-nae-oceans-deep
Where do you get inspiration to write new music?
I listen to a lot of music on the regular. So I guess I take influence from pieces of that here and there.
What has been your proudest accomplishment since being named music director of 1015 Folsom?
I (actually) have stepped back from 1015 and do more occasional shows there now. [Mainly] so I could focus on my music. So I guess sharing the stage playing live with a lot of people I admire as well my new project with Releece (called) Dimond Saints, which has really been blowing up.
What about San Francisco makes you most proud to be a resident?
People got really good taste in music and it keeps pushing me to go higher.
What have been your best live shows this year?
Shambhala Festival in Canada and the Dimond Saints live show at the Fox Theatre in Oakland.
Do you think San Francisco’s music scene is currently diminishing because of the ongoing gentrification?
Not really. [There’s] so many good shows happen on the regular
What’s your favorite donut?
I’m not into donuts…
Do you have any new material in the pipeline pegged for release before the end of this year?
So many. I tend to release quite a lot.
